Visiting

We have recently discovered, much to our chagrin, that our 3-year-old cocker spaniel, Hershey, is only housebroken at our house. He has embarrassed us on three separate visits to the homes of friends and relatives, two of which have no other animals living there. What's the method of insuring that Hershey knows that going indoors is always wrong, and not just at home? We've been careful to take him outside often. On one visit, I took him out and he did his business very nicely, then came back inside and did it again anyway, not 30 minutes later. He wasn't acting anxious, and there has never been a dog living there whose "mark" he might have reacted to. 30 minutes later, he did it again. Now we're reluctant to take him indoors anywhere. Please help.

hi There, I´m interested to hear how you behave differently in other peoples houses. Do you ignore your dog? do you watch closely? do you give your dog a place to sleep? I think all these things are interesting to recognise. I really can´t give you any tips, hopefully somebody with more experience with this situation will write soon, but all I can think is if you bring with you a small blanky for your dog to lie on, give him a good run before, and strongly say that he needs to wait on his blanket and stay there, not go inspecting around the house....He doesn´t sound nervous from what you´ve said, so I´m thinking it´s maybe a form of attention seeking. What happens when he has 'gone' ? You could also try a good chew toy to avoid boredom. I´m sorry for this problem..very embarassing! I´m sure you have tolerant friends, maybe you could do a bit more training in somebodies house ( possibly pay them in yummy cakes first!?) where you apply the same techniques as when you trained at home, good luck, Annie

It seems to me that this could be an attention seeking behaviour as it only happens when you have your attention focussed elsewhere and I bet that as soon as he does his "business" then all eyes are on him and he's the star of the show. You need to set him up in scenarios where you are prepared for this. Take him to a tolerant friend/family members house. Take along an airhorn, or water pistol. Firstly give him attention for being calm and relaxed, get everyone to give him cuddles and love when he's being good. Then ignore him, carry on with your conversations etc, but keep an eye on him, if you see him looking like he's going to eliminate, so he's circling or squatting or cocking a leg - then blast the airhorn or squirt with a water pistol (warning: this may startle your company if they havent been watching!!). Then continue to ignore the dog. If he does eliminate then keep calm and put him outside. No fuss, no talking. Outside will be punishment enough, as your attention would be rewarding.